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WSMT s03
Info When Scrivy Met Twilight (List of stories) << previous scene | Scene 3 | next scene >> Text A week passed, during which Twilight Sparkle tiptoed around the library and glared suspiciously around the Magic Academy. But she managed to avoid running into the stallion, even though she had caught sight of him once sitting in the school courtyard. But he'd been busy writing in a little booklet and hadn't noticed her... although she'd had the strangest urge to go over and start an argument with him. Or kick him. Kicking him would be nice. She had complained to Princess Celestia about him, but the Princess of the Sun had only smiled kindly and told her gently that she chose Scrivener Blooms for a reason. She even suggested trying to make friends with him, but Twilight didn't have time for friends as it was: she definitely did not want to waste it with the obnoxious stallion. Then, while she was browsing through book in the library one day, she strode around a shelf and found herself staring at Scrivener Blooms. The stallion had his back to her, however, and... there was a tiny red-scaled reptile clinging to his mane and peering over his head. Twilight Sparkle recognized it after a moment as a pseudodragon, a very rare magical creature. The stallion was arguing with somepony, and Twilight stepped a little closer, leaning up a bit curiously to see that it was one of the unicorn nobles from the Royal Court. Anger distorted his handsome features as the white stallion tried to loom over Scrivener, but Scrivener only glared back grumpily even as the unicorn spat: "-thief and a liar! You insult me by refusing this offer, and I won't put up with it anymore! Everypony knows that last poem you read to the Royal Court, that was the last straw for you, and Princess Celestia is going to have you fired!" "Yeah, nice try. The Royal Court is already focused on some new drama, and you aren't really offering me anything. Sammy's mine, go get your own pseudodragon." Scrivener paused, then he added wryly: "Oh wait, you can't, can you?" "Be quiet!" the white unicorn hissed, and then he ground his teeth together loudly before snapping: "What are you going to do when one day you push too far, you pathetic little slave hoof?" Twilight covered her mouth at this, eyes widening in shock from where she was hiding: that was one of the worst names anyone could call an earth pony. But Scrivener barely seemed affected by it, only looking mildly, fearlessly up at the unicorn as he answered quietly: "I'm not afraid of you or your kind, proud-horn. Threaten me all you want but I know that unlike the past, I'm safe from all of you. Maybe I don't know how long that's going to last, but I'm determined to make the most of it and I'm going to show you unicorns exactly what I think of all of you, and no one's going to stop me or lay a hoof on me. You know that, and I know that. So back off." The unicorn stallion looked both surprised and a little unnerved, stepping backwards... and then he cursed under his breath before trying one last gambit, saying roughly: "And what if the past catches up to you, Scrivener Blooms? I want that pseudodragon, and you don't want anyone to know where you came from, or what a hornless little freak you are, right?" Scrivener ground his teeth together for a moment... and then he took a slow breath before suddenly smiling grimly, glancing up and saying loudly: "Sammy, looks like he really does want you bad. I guess I have no other choice." The unicorn began to brighten, stepping towards the other stallion, and then Scrivener ordered sharply: "Sammy, go get him!" Scrivener snapped his head forwards, and the pseudodragon launched himself at the same time with a screech, wings spread and claws reaching up. He collided with the unicorn's face before beginning to bite and claw madly at his features and mane, and the white equine squealed loudly in pain and terror as he staggered backwards and began to run wildly around in a circle until he crashed into a nearby desk and half-flipped over it. Sammy was launched in one direction and the unicorn stallion flew in the other, crashing down on his back before he immediately leapt to his hooves and bolted away, as the pseudodragon chirped angrily and bounced around, doing a furious little dance. Then Scrivener smiled before striding forwards and clicking his tongue, and the pseudodragon hurried over to him before quickly crawling back up to perch safely on the stallion's head. A moment later, Scrivener glanced absently towards approaching hoofsteps, and then the stallion sighed tiredly and dropped his head, saying wryly: "I know, I know. Get out of the library. I'm going, I'm going." Twilight slipped slowly around the shelf so she could watch Scrivener leave, studying him intently and feeling... she wasn't quite sure. She still thought he was a jerk, but had a feeling there was something else there... or at least, maybe he had a reason for acting the way he did. She tried to move on to research, but for some reason, couldn't concentrate... and finally, she decided to instead head to the Magic Academy on a whim, telling herself it was because she wanted to look at the research archives. Somehow, she was unsurprised when she saw Scrivener Blooms in the courtyard, once more jotting down notes... and the violet mare hesitated only a moment before approaching, telling herself it was because she just wanted to prove she wasn't afraid of him and wasn't trying to hide from him. She looked down at him, and he ignored her completely, making her frown slowly before her eyes awkwardly roved up to the pseudodragon on his head. It looked up at her curiously with its little blue eyes, studying her intently, and Twilight opened her mouth... hesitated as she saw Scrivener was still writing... and then she realized that he wasn't ignoring her so much as he actually didn't seem to realize she was there, with how focused he was on his work. Twilight Sparkle looked down thoughtfully... then she carefully leaned down before saying loudly in his ear: "You should pretend to be a mare, all great novelists were mares." Scrivener jumped with a yelp, dragging his quill over the page and almost ripping it, before he glared furiously over at Twilight as she grinned and stood back, feeling proud of herself. On the stallion's head, Sammy chirped brightly, the pseudodragon kneading Scrivener's mane with its little claws before the stallion grumbled and glowered up at his pet. "You shut up. And you shut up too, Sparkles, they were not. There were plenty of important and better-remembered stallions." "Where did you get that pseudodragon? Aren't they supposed to be extremely rare?" Twilight asked curiously, and Scrivener cleared his throat and slowly looked away as Sammy chirped again as if in answer. Twilight frowned, then followed the stallion's eyes to the path that the charcoal earth pony had looked at... and then her eyes widened in shock as something in her mind clicked and she asked incredulously: "You? You were the thief who stole the pseudodragon from the research wing?" "No, hell no!" Scrivener said hurriedly, shaking his head violently, making the tiny dragon on his head squawk loudly and cling tightly to his scalp. "I was just... uh... doing late night research and... he followed me home! The egg hatched right in front of me!" "You, research? I don't even know you and I know that's a lie." Twilight said flatly, and then she frowned even more, glaring down at him. "And so the egg followed you magically home and then it hatched?" "Hey, you can't use the word 'magic' to express disbelief, you're a freaking unicorn in a freaking magic academy." Scrivener retorted immediately, and the violet mare rolled her eyes before Scrivener said moodily: "Look, he saw me when he hatched while I was in the exotic animals wing. He imprinted on me or... I imprinted on him, whichever way it goes, so... there." Twilight only shook her head grouchily, but she didn't say anything further, thinking quietly of the argument she had seen before she asked finally: "Why don't you like unicorns?" Scrivener looked up at her sharply, and Twilight winced a bit as she realized she'd maybe been a little too specific... but a moment later, the charcoal stallion only mumbled a bit, then looked back at his notebook, rubbing at the damaged page with a hoof. "You wouldn't understand." The violet mare studied him, and then she shrugged a little, a faint blush tinging her cheeks as she looked away before wondering what the hell she was doing here. Scrivener looked up at her, looking as if he was asking the same question, before the violet mare blushed deeper and mumbled: "Well, bye." With that, she hurried off towards the research wing, and Sammy chirped after her as Scrivener looked nonplussed, then simply shrugged and looked back down at his book, muttering: "Unicorns. They're all crazy. Right Sammy?" The pseudodragon responded by firmly nipping his ear, making him wince a bit before Scrivener grumbled and went back to work for a while. He was still sitting under the tree when Twilight left the building, and he couldn't help but watch as she made her way quickly across the courtyard. Part of him wanted to call out to her, but he resisted it: he had harassed her enough for one day, he felt. And besides, she was a unicorn and special and all that, but... she seemed like a nice enough person. Uptight, maybe a little obsessive-compulsive, but he'd met worse. That night, Scrivener made his way back to his little apartment near the Castle galleries... he liked it here. It was quiet and peaceful, and he let himself inside with a sigh of relief. It was very cozy: his bathroom had a full bath, he'd converted the den into a messy office and had devoted one corner to toys and care-taking equipment for his pseudodragon, and his bedroom had a big cozy bed with a wonderful heavy blanket. To him, the climate of Canterlot was very warm, but he still liked few things better than flopping down on his bed, pulling the blanket up, and simply lazing. After his childhood, being able to lay in a real bed, cover up with such a luxurious blanket, and rest his head on a pillow... well, it was hard to describe how comforting it was, especially if you didn't know about the life he had lived. And as far as Scrivener was concerned, there was no reason anyone should know about the life he had lived. The stallion reached up and quietly rubbed at his forehead in an old, compulsive gesture, rubbing over a softer spot near the crown of his skull: the hollow beneath the skin, where a horn was supposed to be, the horn that he had been born without. He was pretty sure that Celestia knew he wasn't actually an earth pony, but a hornless unicorn, but most ponies never figured it out and he preferred to keep it that way. Like he preferred no one to know that he had been raised in the elitist far north, among unicorns who had seen him as a freak of nature, his lack of a horn making him an abomination, a slave hoof. But those days were over now, and here he was, in Canterlot, where he had enough influence and importance to be able to ignore and stand up to the unicorn nobles that reminded him far too much of home. He recognized fully it was perhaps more than a little childish, but he'd found it was fairly safe to be rude to most privileged unicorns on principle. Most of them did fall under the category of 'jerk,' even if had met a few who he had a more neutral or pleasant opinion of. And Twilight Sparkle was... well... she was okay, he supposed. Scrivener let his mind wander around this subject for a little while as he puttered around his apartment: he didn't really need to do any more work or research right now, so he amused himself by playing with his pet pseudodragon for an hour or so, and then neatening up a few things when Sammy got tired. Most of his nights were like this, spent quiet and with just his pet for company, but spending time with the pseudodragon was more than enough socializing for him. The next few days were quiet: Scrivener wandered around Canterlot, worked on the Magic Academy project. He had done the brunt of the work already, but he was having trouble reworking one of the stories in particular, about Starswirl's apprentice. He just couldn't grasp her character and hated the way she was portrayed in the original ballad... it reeked of the ninth-century Flowerquill's 'idolization,' where female and male characters were shaped into what, at the time, had been society's perfect vision of the roles each gender should play. Unlike what most ponies thought, Scrivener did take pride in his work, and he knew literature and mythology forwards and backwards. When he wasn't wandering around flaunting his power or playing with Sammy, he was usually reading or writing. He just hated writing his insipid little poems for the Royal Court, and he hated the essays and outlined projects he was asked to write by the nobles, and he wasn't very fond of working on speeches, either. On his personal projects he worked hard, and if something caught his interest he threw his all into it: and even if he'd never admit it, the anthology of stories and ballads he was supposed to put together had done just that. Originally, he'd thought he was supposed to write an anthem for the school, and then edit and cobble together a whole bunch of stories from different authors. But Celestia had been surprisingly firm in telling him that no, she wanted him to draw on all these different stories she had named as inspiration, to credit and name the originals, but to rewrite his own version of each and every one. To this day, Scrivener Blooms didn't dare ask just why the hell he had been hired on in the first place. The poetry he'd submitted had been some of his best work, but he was pretty sure his best work also wasn't precisely what ponies had in mind when they wanted to see something written by the Court Poet of Canterlot. He thought that was why he was a little overeager when it came to throwing his weight around to get his way... any day now, and he expected Celestia to tell him this had all been some grand prank and they were replacing him with someone much more suited to the task. Scrivener was ruminating on this and other subjects as he sat at the back table in the library one morning, before he looked up when he saw Twilight Sparkle approaching. She immediately scowled at him, and he scowled back, before Sammy chirped happily on top of his head. Twilight looked up at the pseudodragon for a moment, then rolled her eyes before asking dryly: "Isn't it against the rules to have pets in the library?" "Yes, but the librarians only throw me out for major violations. I can get away with a lot." Scrivener replied mildly, and then he gave her a thoughtful look when Twilight grumbled and threw her things on the table, sitting down at the chair furthest from him. "Are we friends now? Is this our friendship table?" "No, we're not, and no, this is not. This is my table, Scrivener. I was sitting here before you were even in Canterlot, let alone Court Poet." Twilight said irritably, and the charcoal stallion favored her with a flat look. "Don't you have some other ponies to go pick on?" "No, I read my new poem and bully the Royal Court tomorrow. Should be fun." Scrivener replied easily, and Twilight looked up curiously. "Well, like I said, I have a job, Twilight Sparkle. I'm not like you. I have to buy my own groceries, and pay bills, and evade taxes." Twilight didn't rise to the bait this time, only rolling her eyes before smiling when Sammy jumped off Scrivener's head and skittered over to the violet mare. She hesitantly reached up and touched him, and Sammy almost purred as he rubbed his head into her front hoof, Scrivener looking sourly at the pseudodragon. "Traitor." Sammy huffed over his shoulder, seeming to understand this, and Twilight blushed a little before clearing her throat and awkwardly pushing at the little reptile as she turned her eyes to her work, mumbling: "I'm... I have to work now." Scrivener grunted, then he glanced down at his own notebook before flipping it closed. "Well, have fun with that, Sparkles." "Can you not call me that?" Twilight looked over at him with exasperation, and Scrivener looked back innocently, making her glare. "Don't start." "Don't start what, Sparkles? Your name is Sparkles, isn't it, Sparkles?" Scrivener asked curiously, and Twilight fixed him with a withering look as her horn sparked. "Also, did you know that 'twilight' is the shortest and often dullest part of the day? It's when vapid teenagers stare at the setting sun and fail to recognize it's a metaphor for life ending, not eternal love." Twilight slowly opened her mouth... and then she closed it, took a breath, and asked moodily: "Do you pick on me because you envy the fact I'm a unicorn, or because you envy the fact that I'm working hard towards being the best I can be and you seem distinctly unhappy with what's apparently the high point of your entire life?" Scrivener's mouth fell open, and Twilight realized after a moment that she had perhaps been a little harsher than she'd meant to, but her lack of social skills and how purely frustrated the stallion made her had pushed her a little too hard. But a moment later, the stallion narrowed his eyes, leaning towards her and asking flatly: "Oh really? And where are you headed in life, to be a fat unicorn behind a desk or a fat unicorn wearing a funny magic hat? Because I will say this, at least you're already fat." Twilight reared back at this, and then her eyes blazed as she ground her teeth together and struggled for a reply... and for all her intellect, all she could manage on this still-alien verbal battleground was: "You're fat!" "No, you're fat!" Scrivener shouted in return, sounding almost triumphant as he stomped towards her, and Twilight shoved herself out of her chair to glare across at him, refusing to be intimidated or beaten by the lanky stallion. "You're fat! Your head is so fat that... that all of Canterlot could fit inside your skull, and you wouldn't even feel it because you clearly don't have a brain!" Twilight snapped, and then she let out a short 'ha!' of victory. "Well your face is so fat that if it wasn't crammed up the butt of the Princess all the time it would eclipse the sun!" Scrivener replied immediately, and Twilight reared back, eyes widening in surprise before she shook her head violently. "My head is not crammed up her butt! I... I have a lot of respect for Princess Celestia, everypony should, you... but you don't respect anything, do you? You wouldn't know respect if it... it bit you in your fat butt!" Twilight said harshly, her voice cracking a little, and Scrivener's eyes blazed as the violet mare felt a violent tumult of emotions run through her. Scrivener began to open his mouth to reply with some mockery, even if he recognized that Twilight was probably on the verge of crying, but his own anger was roiling between the guilt and shame... but then a throat cleared loudly, and both unicorn and earth pony looked to the side to stare at the librarian, who was slowly tapping a hoof against the ground and glaring at them both. The two traded looks, both slumping and dropping their heads forwards, and then Scrivener held up a hoof and muttered: "We'll throw ourselves out." The librarian only rolled her eyes as both ponies gathered up their things, then headed out into the hall side-by-side, before they traded sour looks at each other... but after a moment, Scrivener dropped his head and mumbled an apology. Twilight blinked, not believing what she heard, and she looked at him quickly, asking: "What?" He glanced towards her, hesitated... and then lied finally: "I said, do you want to buy me a coffee now?" "I hate you." Twilight muttered, and she shook her head, and they turned their backs to each other at almost the same time, before the violet mare closed her eyes tightly, hesitated, then looked over her shoulder and mumbled: "Scrivener." Scrivener halted and glanced over his shoulder, and they looked at each other awkwardly before Twilight Sparkle averted her eyes and lost her nerve, instead hurrying onwards. Scrivener looked after her blankly for a moment... then simply shrugged and turned around, mumbling to himself. Category:Transcript Category:Story